Warm feet for the winter
The mayor and her team were thanked for the great work that they are doing
Cllr Linah Malatjie, the Executive Mayor for the Emalahleni Local Muncipality is described as the mother of the Coal City.
This was during a handover where the municipality together with Eskom (Duvha Power Station), handed over school shoes to those who need it most… and this just before winter hits.
Sibusiso Ngalagala from above mentioned power station said: “We received a request from the mayor to help, and here we are today. We requested lists from the school of destitute kids and could not turn our backs. This project is not the only one, we are looking forward to working even more closely with the mayor and sanitary pads for girls is also one of our top priorities. We want to close the gap where girls can not attend school because they can not afford something as basic as sanitary pads.”
He thanked the mayor and her team for the great work that they are doing.
The mayor in her turn thanked the Department of Social Development and said that the ward councillors were invited to the schools, to experience first hand what it is like.
“Some communities can not conceptualise how bad it really is out there. We want to build a strong confidence in the kids, as their education is tampered where confidence lacks. Although sanitary pads and other necessities are important for girls, we can not leave the boys out. We give them dignity packs (as for girls), because we have seen that they turn to drugs and other bad behaviour when their dignity is affected by lacking basic sanitary products. In these packs we add roll-on, toothbrush, toothpaste and more. For the girls we just add the sanitary pads,” the mayor said.
She added that equality is so important and with confidence, their results will immediately improve.
“We appreciate all the support we have received thus far as we realise that education will make better people in our society. Winter is now creeping closer so we need to give the kids some shoes for the cold.”
She added final words of motivation: “Among you – the school goers, we will reap mayors, managers and so much more. You have such a bright future and so many opportunities with education. We want to add some confidence to that.”
